* * * * *
The resettlement center was a scene of barely contained chaos. There was a long, ugly rectangular building that had been set down smack in a clearing in the middle of the forest. There were rows of white-domed tents set among towering trees. Aliens from half a dozen species milled about or gathered in clusters, and they did not appear happy. There were shrill alien laments piercing the night air, and people pushing and shoving each other.
There didn’t appear to be enough guards to deal with them all. She only spotted six of them, walking around chatting with each other and mostly ignoring the aliens. The guards were made up from several different humanoid races, and they all wore the same uniform – black and silver, with an insignia of the Milky Way galaxy on their chests.
Each time the arguments got to the point of actual fighting, several guards rushed forward, jabbing with metal sticks that sent up showers of white sparks, and the aliens screamed in pain and scattered.
The guards were members of the Galactic Federation’s Peacemakers; Violet had learned that in orientation.
The volunteers all headed to the rectangular building. Violet stood there trying to decide what to do next. The bus was already leaving, rising high into the night sky.
She couldn’t help feeling badly for the aliens.
“Dorcas, we should tell the people at Starcrossed what a mess it is here. Maybe they could— Dorcas?”
Frantic, she looked around. She’d liked it better when her great-aunt had needed her cane to walk; she’d been easier to keep track of. A mobile Dorcas was a dangerous Dorcas.
Dorcas was bearing down on a tall, horned alien who had just snatched a piece of fruit from a short, squat, troll-like creature.
Dorcas whacked the alien’s hand hard with her cane, making him drop the fruit. Violet froze – the alien was literally twice Dorcas’ height – but he just made a spitting noise at her, then turned and ran. The troll-creature grabbed the fruit and scampered off.
Violet waved one of the guards over. “Excuse me, that – that creature stole food from one of the other aliens!” she said, pointing. “He should be arrested.”
“Detention hut is full,” the guard grunted. He had silver scales and marble-black eyes with no whites. His teeth were disturbingly pointy.
“Well, that doesn’t sound good.” She looked around. “Why aren’t there more guards here?”
He gave a hiss of annoyance, scowling at the various aliens scampering around. “These are all members of less advanced species. None of them are our trading partners. Not our top priority. We’re here to keep them rounded up in one spot so they don’t make any trouble, until we can send them back home.” He hissed again. “If they have homes to return to. The cyborgs have targeted their solar system.”
She started to ask him another question, but he walked off, looking bored.
She looked around for Dorcas, who had wandered off again and was about to whack an insectoid with her cane.
“Oh no you don’t!” She grabbed Dorcas’ arm and led her away. “We’re going to get Starcrossed to come pick us up, and we’ll tell them about the situation here. Quit trying to make everyone behave. Sooner or later you’re going to whack the wrong alien, and it’s going to eat you.”
“I’d like to see them try.” Dorcas glared at the insectoid. Its antennae drooped and it hurried off. Then she surveyed the whole area, hands on hips. “Doesn’t look like anybody here plays cards,” she complained.
“They’re all homeless and poor, so you’d feel bad about fleecing them anyway.”
Dorcas sighed. “True, true. I like fleecing rich people.”
Violet firmly pressed on the blue button on her Comm. Normally it made a little answering pulse sound; this time it was silent.
“Call Zura from the Thorolf Pack,” she said, feeling a stab of alarm.
Nothing happened.
“Call Madok from the Thorolf Pack. Call…call Lukan from the Wor-Lan Pack.” Lukan was the Reginar of the Wor-Lans, and also another owner of Starcrossed.
Nothing happened.
“Call Treffon from the Thorolf pack,” she said desperately, and stabbed at the button with her finger again and again.
Dorcas tried the same with her comm bracelet, with the same results.
Violet hurried back over to the silver-scaled guard. “I’m trying to use my communicator and it won’t work. I need to make a call,” she said.
“There’s a dampening field here.”
“It’s extremely urgent,” she protested. “How can we get back to Donnelle? When’s the next bus?”
He scowled at her. “That is not going to happen until you have had your identification confirmed and been scanned for viruses.” He glanced at the main building. “Scanning is closed for the evening. Come back in the morning.”
“But…but I came on the volunteer bus!”
He looked at her in annoyance. “I don’t see a volunteer badge.” And he walked away without another word.
Great. They were trapped there overnight with hundreds of surly, barely supervised aliens.
She went to tell Dorcas the bad news – but Dorcas was gone. Again.
“Seriously?” she said in exasperation. Then she heard Dorcas yelling in anger. She followed the sound, pushing her way through thick purple and silver underbrush, into the woods.
She burst through into a clearing – and wished she hadn’t.
There was a cluster of about twenty of the cutest creatures she’d ever seen – knee-high, with short blue fur and enormous black eyes and purple hands and feet. A creature that looked like a miniature dinosaur, perhaps ten feet high, loomed over them. Dorcas had placed herself between the furry creatures and the alien that was menacing them.
Violet ran over, tripped over Dorcas’ cane, and fell flat on her back. “Run!” she screamed to Dorcas. “Take those furry things! Run!”
The creature opened up its mouth to reveal thousands of pointy teeth, and let out a horrifying screech as it plunged its head towards her.
Chapter Six
The little fur creatures made shrill noises that pierced the night air. Instead of running away, they ran over to Violet and pushed at her as she staggered to her feet.
“Run, damn it!” she screamed.
“Get away from my niece!” Dorcas ran faster than Violet would have thought possible, whipped her cane out, and jabbed the larger creature in the belly. There was an explosion of sparks and yellow flames, and then a horrible smell of seared flesh. The creature reared back and let out a high screech.
“What the heck?” gasped Violet as the creature slowly backed away. “Since when did your cane do that?”
“When they fixed my knees, they did an upgrade on the cane too. Why do you think I didn’t want to give it up?”
“Good Lord. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Dorcas looked smug. “A lady can have her secrets, can’t she?”
The furry creatures shrieked louder, pulling on Violet’s legs and gesturing at the giant beast. It sounded as if they were saying “Eep! Eep!” over and over again.
The dinosaur-thing had stopped retreating, and now it fixed its beady eyes on them.
“Uh-oh,” Violet said nervously. She glanced through the trees at the camp. Could they outrun the creature before it ate at least one of them? Probably not.
And why did she suddenly feel a warm rush of arousal sweeping over her? Why was her heart hammering in her chest? She was a hundred percent positive she didn’t have a thing for carnivorous dinosaurs.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” Treffon’s voice boomed out behind her. He came stalking up, walked past Violet, and headed straight for the dinosaur-thing.
It took one look at him and turned and ran back into the forest.
Treffon turned his attention back to Violet. “You should not take walks in the forest without my protection.”
“I wasn’t just casually strolling…oh, forget it,” she groaned. “Let’s get out of here
before something else wants to eat us for dinner.” She replayed his words in her head. “Wait…what do you mean, your protection?” His arrogance was breathtaking. At least she told herself that was why her breathing was rapid and shallow. And that twisting sensation low in her belly was probably just hunger.
Treffon turned with a growl, ignoring her question. He led them back into the main clearing.
“That’s not the hairball that made you cry, is it?” Dorcas asked Violet as they pushed their way through the thick underbrush. “I hope not, because that one’s kinda hot. Also, I think he’s rich. I’ve got a sixth sense about that. You should keep him.”
“Someone made you cry?” Treffon whirled around. Damn Vulfans with their hyper-sensitive hearing. He looked around with a ferocious scowl. “Who was it? Point to them. I will kill them now.”
“What? We don’t solve disputes by killing people,” Violet said, appalled. Also, he was the one who’d made her cry, but she certainly wasn’t going to tell him that.
Treffon looked confused and tapped his comm bracelet. “It must be broken,” he muttered. “I could have sworn that you just said we do not solve disputes by killing people.”
“Whatever. I’m still not speaking to you. You humiliated me on purpose, and frankly, I deserve better.” Violet turned and stalked off, with Dorcas and the little furry creatures following her.
Treffon didn’t follow her; he walked over to talk to one of the Peacemakers as Violet and Dorcas sat down on a fallen log and the fur creatures gathered around them.
“You stick with me,” Violet said, shaking her finger at them. “Do not go wandering off into the forest by yourselves again. I’ll keep you safe.” She wasn’t sure quite how she’d do that; her best strategy would probably be tripping and falling in front of whatever was chasing them, so it ate her first.
She glanced after Treffon, who was having an animated discussing with the Peacemaker. Treffon looked angry, and the Peacemaker looked defensive.
“I can’t cane him?” Dorcas sounded very disappointed. She waved her stick in the air. “I don’t get too many chances to take this bad boy out for a test drive.”
“No, leave it be. Anyway, I’m glad the big jerk didn’t follow us over here. Very glad. Extremely happy.”
“So you’re happy about it, you say?” Dorcas raised an eyebrow.
“I swear if I didn’t know better I’d think you were being sarcastic. Yes, I’m happy. I didn’t want him to keep following me around and— Oh, for heaven’s sake.” That last statement was directed at Treffon, who was now urgently waving at Violet.
“Stay here,” she sighed. “I’m going to go tell him he has to get us and these little furballs out of here.”
As she walked over to him, Treffon let out a threatening growl at one of the aliens as it passed him. It gave a shrill cry of panic and ran for its life.
“What the heck was that for?” she demanded. “It wasn’t even doing anything.”
“Keeps them in line.”
“Why are you such a jerk?” she shouted at him.
“Why do you keep disappearing?” he parried back.
“I asked you first.”
“But I am the Reginar, so you must answer me.”
She snorted at that. “Oh really, is that how it works? Well you’re not my Reginar, so I don’t have to do a thing you say.” She faced him defiantly, hands on her hips.
“If I were your Reginar, you would be disciplined most severely for speaking to me in such a fashion.” But a hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he said it.
When he said the word “disciplined,” an image of him bending her over his knee and spanking her suddenly flooded her mind, and she blushed furiously. She could imagine the slaps of his hand on her naked flesh, her cries of pleasure…
And the way he was standing there looking at her – it was as if he could read her mind. Could he? Dear God, she hoped not, but who knew what Vulfans were capable of? Madok had claimed to be psychic, back on Earth.
Mortified, she turned and hurried away.
Treffon walked beside her, keeping up with her easily. “If you run away, I will follow you,” he informed her.
She stopped and spluttered indignantly. “Stalker much?”
He shrugged. “Call it what you like. I will find you wherever you go.”
“Yes, Treffon, on Earth that is what we call a stalker.”
He smiled. “Okay. I am a stalker.”
She blew out a breath of exasperation. “I keep disappearing because…well, the first time I met you, there was a huge bar fight, and furniture and bodies were flying through the air, so it seemed like a good time to leave. The second time I ran off it was because I found out that you let me totally humiliate myself for your own amusement. And the third time was because someone blew up a cab that I’d been about to climb into, and I was afraid they might be targeting me. Someone on Earth was trying to kill me, I don’t know why, and I thought they might have followed me here.”
He frowned at that. “I did not humiliate you on purpose; I just never got a chance to tell you my name. As for the threat to you, you mentioned that earlier, and I should have paid more attention. We have connections on Earth. We will investigate. But it does seem very unlikely that anybody from Earth would have found a way here, given that nobody on Earth knows we exist. The explosion is being investigated, however, and I will inform Donnelle law enforcement of the possibility that you were the target.”
“I answered your question, so answer mine. Why are you such a jerk?”
He grinned fiercely. “It runs in my genes. Reginars do not survive and protect their packs by being,” he gestured at the little furry things that were crowded around Dorcas, “like Eeplings.” Dorcas had pulled out her knitting from her purse, and the Eeplings were passing the ball of yarn from one to another with fascination.
“Eeplings! So that’s their name. Figures – all they say is ‘Eep’. My translator doesn’t seem to be working on them.”
He nodded. “As I recall, they are one of the species who don’t have a translatable language. They use the same word to mean thousands of things, and only other Eeplings, or a Universal Translating Telepath, knows what meaning they are giving to a word.”
“Can you bring a translator here?” she asked hopefully. “I’d love to find out where the rest of their people are, so they can come fetch them. This is no place for helpless little creatures.”
“The guard told me that apparently they were on some kind of field trip when a cyborg fleet cut them off, and their ship automatically re-directed them here.”
“A field trip! So that’s a bunch of little children running around without anyone to protect them?”
Treffon shrugged. He didn’t seem particularly worried about them, which made Violet even more annoyed with him then she already was.
“Now, as I recall, their parents are actually quite deadly. They can spit poison. The young are unfortunately totally helpless.” He shook his head. “Surprising they were sent without adults or chaperones. But anyway,” he added dismissively, “that is not our concern. I am taking you back to my pack property, where I will guard you until we know if someone is really trying to kill you. If they are, I will find the person who is trying to kill you. Then I will tear off pieces of them until they die.”
“You…” Violet spluttered. “I am not leaving these Eeplings here on their own! Something almost ate them!”
“Yes, the young are considered a delicacy by some species.” He looked her in the eye. “But you are, in fact, coming with me. I will pick you up and carry you if need be.”
What a complete A-hole! Rude, bossy, bullying, jerk! Out of all the Vulfans to fall in lust with, why did it have to be this one?
He grabbed her by the arm and started walking. She kicked him in the shins, hard, and then punched him in the arm. Then she winced. “Ouch.” Then she kicked him again.
“You son of a bitch!” she shouted.
&n
bsp; “Ah, you have heard tell of my mother.” He didn’t look the least bit offended. He kept walking, and she swung her leg around and hooked it behind his knee, causing him to momentarily stumble. She yanked her arm from his grasp.
“Shall I carry you?” His eyes had a wicked twinkle to them. “I would enjoy that.”
“Why, given that I’m not your true mate?”
“But you are very attractive. If you were interested, I would very much enjoy…getting to know you better.”
She tried not to let his words distract her from how angry she was, but it was hard. As was he – she could see the outline of his hardened cock straining against the cloth of his leggings. She ignored the trickle of moisture in her panties and the urge to climb him like a tree, licking him every inch of the way.
“And I would very much enjoy pushing you off a cliff,” she said. “How could you even think of leaving the Eeplings here?”
He shrugged. “My pack survives because I always put their welfare first. I cannot protect the entire galaxy. Do the Eeplings provide any diplomatic or strategic advantage to us? No, they do not. Therefore it benefits me nothing to extend my protection to them.”
“You are a horrible person.”
“True, but I am an excellent leader.”
“Well, I’m not a member of your pack, so how does it benefit you to protect me?”
He seemed to consider that. “I… Well…I do not want anything to happen to you. You said that you like me. I like you too. And therefore I do not wish you to be harmed.”
“You like me, do you?” She hadn’t meant for it to come out as bitter as it did.
A more serious look crossed his face, and he tore his gaze from her, staring off into the distance at the mountains. “It is more than that. You are the first female I have been attracted to in…I can’t remember how long. I wish to take you back to my bedchamber and pleasure you for weeks on end. I wish that I could tell you that you were my true mate, but I cannot. I had a true mate once, and she died.”
The Vulfan's Dark Desires (Starcrossed Dating Agency Book 3) Page 5
